Independent poll watchdog wants elections called off

JAKARTA (JP): An independent poll body has called on the government to cancel the 1997 general elections, citing government interference in the political contestants' affairs which renders the process "legally defective".

The Independent Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP), manned by prominent figures and government critics, said in a press conference yesterday that the poll would be useless, as there is no guarantee that the contestants would be independent.

"We want the general election process to stop. It's defective, anyway," KIPP chairman Goenawan Mohamad said at the office of the Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute yesterday.

"Given the existing condition, the poll wouldn't be a free and fair procedure," he said. "It should be called off because the political parties that should participate are not independent."

The 1997 poll is to be joined by three political parties -- the ruling Golkar, the Moslem-oriented United Development Party (PPP) and the nationalist Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) -- contesting for 425 of the 500 seats of the House of Representatives. The remaining 75 seats are to be allocated for the Armed Forces members, who do not vote.

Goenawan charged that the government has been blatantly meddling in the political parties' affairs. He cited the current leadership crisis in PDI as an example of the results of the meddling.

The government and the military have encouraged a rebel group in PDI to hold a congress last month, which later ousted PDI chief Megawati Soekarnoputri and elected Soerjadi as the new chairman.

The poll body, which the government has never recognized, warned of a possible backlash. When the government supported the rebel congress, it "miscalculated" the strength of the support for Megawati, Goenawan said.

"By supporting the rebel congress, the government has lost its legitimacy," he said.

Separately, a number of organizations continued with their support for Megawati yesterday. Activists of a pro-democracy group, Pijar, protested outside the General Elections Institute building, calling for a boycott of the general elections.

"The government's intervention in PDI is illegal. We call on Indonesians to refuse to participate in an illegal election," chairman Feri Haryono Machsus said.

"It's better to become Golput than go along with a dishonest election," the protesters said.

Golput, which stands for Golongan Putih (literally, "white group"), is a term popularly used to refer to those who opt not to vote for any of the three political parties at election time. The name was coined to contrast with Golkar (Golongan Karya), whose name means "functional group".

Separately, KIPP deputy chairperson Zoemrotin K. Soesilo said she had proof of the government's interference in political organizations' internal affairs.

"Two branch offices of PPP in Java have been pressured to include names of people chosen by two different regents in their preliminary lists of PPP legislators," she said.

Meanwhile, Armed Forces (ABRI) Chief for General Affairs Lt. Gen. Soeyono said in Bandung yesterday that ABRI would employ constitutional methods in its effort to maintain security during the 1997 general election and the 1998 session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

"We prefer to take preventive measures rather than launch repressive actions in ensuring the security of the 1997 general election and the MPR 1998 session, so as to avoid unnecessary victims," he said.

However, he called on ABRI members not to hesitate in taking "proper action" to deal with "incidents" that may occur during the events.

On another occasion, Attorney General Singgih said in Dili, East Timor, yesterday that next year's general elections would be held in an era of openness which guarantees democratization and human rights protection.

"We'll stick to legal principles in settling any disputes," he was quoted by Antara as saying. (imn/17)